PS3 FAQ's: PSN, Gaming, Hardware, Accessories, Gen. Discussions...etc.

I see they have new 80 GB PS3's... so, now the SACD and BC is gone from the 80?

I kinda want the SACD feature, and had I known about it when I bought my PS3 last year, would have bought the 80 instead.
 
[quote name='XxFuRy2Xx']Wha? I can stream over music when I'm not playing a game, so it doesn't make sense that I can't do it while I am playing a game...[/QUOTE]It's because a PS3 development kit is only made to access music from the HDD at the moment (custom music is up to the developer in every PS3 game. Firmware update 1.8 for the developers allowed access to various XMB features within a game (from the HDD), if it's the development kit I'm thinking of). It works on the 360 because the music is being played over the regular music and just cutting out the regular music (software already provided by MS where the developers do not have to do anything). Sony cannot implement it that same way or it would be infringing upon the patent MS has.

If music from a media server was ever going to be used, Sony would have to update the development kits to support such a thing and games would have to be patched to support it. Let's just say reading from the network is a more difficult task than HDD. Also, I cannot guarantee this, but the memory constraints the PS3 has (lack of OS memory in-game, which explains why it took a while for in-game XMB to come) MIGHT affect it (there's several articles about how every firmware update, Sony had to find a way to reduce the OS footprint on the PS3, and bring it down enough to allow features to be accessed in-game, along with giving developers more room to work with my reducing the OS footprint).
 
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Hey all. I did a quick search but didn't come up with anything that answered all of my questions. If this post isn't appropriate here, please delete/merge into the main faq.

Anyway, I just recently got an HDTV, and have been wanting a PS3 for blu-ray/games that are ps3 exclusive. I'm not sure which version I should buy. I know a new 80GB is coming out in a couple months, that doesn't really have many options.

Which model is currently the best buy? I know the newer ones have better cooling, but did they drop backwards compatibility with some PS2 games? Which versions are currently available at retail? What exactly does the new one come with?

Thank you very much!
 
Currently, you'll find 2 models out there, but there's been more than that. Here's a rundown:

All models do the following:

  1. Plays PS1 & PS3 games
  2. Plays Blu-ray movies and AVCHD discs as well as streamed content
  3. Upgrade your hdd with any 2.5" SATA hard drive
And here's what's unique to each unit (Based off North American SKUs. PAL region models do not follow these specs):

20GB (discontinued):

  • Full backwards compatibility.
  • 4 USB ports
  • NO Card reader slots (SD, etc)
  • No Wi-Fi
60GB (discontinued):

  • Full backwards compatibility
  • 4 USB ports
  • Card reader slots (SD, etc)
40GB (discontinued, but available):

  • Plays PS1 & PS3 games, but NO PS2 games
  • No card readers
  • 2 USB ports instead of 4
80GB (discontinued, but available)

  • Plays PS1 & PS3 games, and most PS2 games
  • Card reader slots (SD, etc)
  • 4 USB ports
80GB (upcoming version)

  • Plays PS1 & PS3 games, but NO PS2 games
  • No card readers
  • 2 USB ports instead of 4
Hope that helps.
 
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Where's the source for the 80 GB that has BC being discontinued? I always thought the new MGS4 80 GB bundle was the new $500 model.
 
So they are discontinuing all the good versions? Do they have any plans to come out with non crippled ones? My paycheck isn't for a couple weeks yet, and I would rather not get stuck with having to get the new console :(
 
I definitely will. The color on that isn't too different right? I like the darker look. Also, how long will they be manufacturing them? They seem to be in fairly short supply atm, at least from what I've seen
 
The 80gb MGS4 bundle has the exact same black PS3. Only the 40gb has the gunmetal color one, but that's not a bundle you can find in stores.
 
If you BADLY want to play PS2 games on PS3 (either from not owning a PS2 last gen or want some all-in-one device), buy an 80GB PS3 w/ MGS4 (some PS2 games may not work, but most all do).

If you don't care about having PS2 BC, just buy a 40GB.

I recommend avoiding a used 60GB (since most are out of warranty now (many were made a while ago) and I've noticed a higher failure for them compared to other SKUs) and I cannot completely recommend a 20GB (I kind of regret mine in ways).
[quote name='Hostile']Where's the source for the 80 GB that has BC being discontinued? I always thought the new MGS4 80 GB bundle was the new $500 model.[/QUOTE]It will be discontinued. The main reason is SCEE and SCEJ have already been sticking to one SKU, and SCEA is looking to do the same. Although the 80GB MGS4 bundle is nice in features, the big issue is that having two SKUs can still hurt you regardless (because then customers get faced with a decision between which SKU to buy, and many times don't buy anything). When it's up to just one SKU, it's take it or leave it, and SCE realized people wanted a cheaper PS3 (the mass market), which is why the 40GB (soon to get an 80GB HDD and same features) is the main SKU. Oh course it may turn some away (and they know that), but sticking to one SKU is easier on consumers (people on CAG may not have an issue with multiple SKUs, but most common people do) and Sony breaks even on the 40GB (compared to losing some money on all other SKUs).
 
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Methadon, you have two points incorrect. The launch 20GB has no card reader, while the current (soon to be exipired) 80GB does have a card reader.
 
[quote name='alongx']Methadon, you have two points incorrect. The launch 20GB has no card reader, while the current (soon to be exipired) 80GB does have a card reader.[/QUOTE]Yes, that's true. I can confirm that since I have a 20GB (I have to use a USB flash drive).
 
I believe it was E3 that they announce that the upcoming 80's would not have BC. I can't believe that they are not going to have any BC models...
~S
 
I would also say go for the 80Gig MGS4 version, even if you dont want MGS4, you can sell it for at least a little bit either on here or on ebay or something. I have a 60G version and I've never had an issue (got it 1 month after launch), but I think since they are all on the used market unless you really know the person who is selling it then I would go ahead and do a new 80G. I have seen the 80G MGS4 bundle all over just this past weekend so I think if you wait you won't risk missing out on this one.
 
One more difference, the MGS 4 bundle comes a with dualshock 3 and I think 40 gigs still have sixaxis (that or make sure you check to make sure you have a new one). Rumble isn't that important to me, but some people seem to find it necessary. The mgs bundle also has pain.
 
Another question to add. How long will they be manufacturing the current 80 gig MGS4 bundle? That's the one it seems like I'd like the most, and 500 isn't bad (paid the same for my 360 elite + halo). I'd rather not get the one that's crippled coming out in september though. Does anyone know if they will keep the mgs bundle and replace the current 80gig with the new one? Or will they phase the bundle out alltogether? They seem to be OOS everywhere, so hopefully I can get one before they do get phased out :cry:
 
I wouldn't count on the mgs bundle lasting that long. It has been in stock on amazon lately, and I've also seen a bunch at Best Buy just randomly walking in so they're getting easier to find. I'm still expecting some sort of LBP bundle. If they do it with the $400 80 gig system for the holidays I wouldn't be too shocked.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']Question: I have a monitor I use for the PS3 in my room that's 1080p. Most games only support 720p and thus look like shit on a 1080p native screen.[/QUOTE]

Depends on the quality of your monitor/TV's scaler.

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']OK. I'm glad we have that cleared up. I'm still glad I picked up a PS3, since it's a great system, but I've always been a worrywart with my game consoles.[/QUOTE]

And for good reason, given all the issues we've seen lately! That GTA4 crash thing would be spooking me (although maybe it's just a GTA4 thing?). Mine's fine so far...well, one crash in Oblivion.

[quote name='DestroVega']I see they have new 80 GB PS3's... so, now the SACD and BC is gone from the 80?

I kinda want the SACD feature, and had I known about it when I bought my PS3 last year, would have bought the 80 instead.[/QUOTE]

The new 80GB unit is really just the current 40GB unit with a larger hard drive and all the same limitations. It's different hardware from the current Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle 80GB units (and the older 80GB bundle).

[quote name='Hostile']Where's the source for the 80 GB that has BC being discontinued? I always thought the new MGS4 80 GB bundle was the new $500 model.[/QUOTE]

It is-the MGS4 80GB unit is fully featured, but they're talking about the new $400 80GB unit that's coming out in a few months. It's not really new at all, it's just a 40GB unit with a larger hard drive and all the same limitations as the current 40GB unit.

[quote name='aeauvian']Another question to add. How long will they be manufacturing the current 80 gig MGS4 bundle? That's the one it seems like I'd like the most, and 500 isn't bad (paid the same for my 360 elite + halo). I'd rather not get the one that's crippled coming out in september though. Does anyone know if they will keep the mgs bundle and replace the current 80gig with the new one? Or will they phase the bundle out alltogether? They seem to be OOS everywhere, so hopefully I can get one before they do get phased out :cry:[/QUOTE]

I'm with Happy, I wouldn't count on it being around long. I'd like to be wrong, but so far Sony seems very uninterested in giving us a PS3 model we want (the 20GB unit was hard to find, the 80GB unit wasn't on the market long, we went over 6 months with only the 'tard pack 40GB unit, etc.)

[quote name='TURBO']a Ferrari is car in a sense. But you dont call it that. You call it a Supercar. eDRAM is not normal ram, just like a Ferrari is not a normal car.[/quote]

Literally all that "e" is for is "embedded". It is RAM, and that's what you call it-words have meaning...
I still have no idea why you're talking about what that 10MB is called...

When you talk about RAM you're talking about main memory, not embedded.
Click to expand...

No, you specify what you're talking about. You'd say main system RAM, or video cache/RAM/whatever in the case of that 10MB.

You seem to be under the impression the 360s main ram is slower than PS3s; you'd be wrong.
Click to expand...

Not sure how you got that impression since I said no such thing. The PS3 does have roughly double the total bandwidth by virtue of using a more normal main RAM/video RAM setup though.

PS3 (not even taking into account the latency of XDR) reads XDR at 15.5GB/s & writes to it at 10.6GB/s.
Click to expand...

That's not what the specs say...

Even if the eDRAM didnt exist (which it does) the 360's GPU would still have a significant memory advantage.
Click to expand...

Only if all the graphics work can fit into that 10MB. If not, then it effectively has less and less bandwidth the less of the graphics work that fits into that 10MB.

Also quit saying PS3 & PC. PC has nothing to do w/ PS3.
Click to expand...

For what I'm talking about the comparison is completely valid.

There is no rapid drop off in performance.
Click to expand...

How can you possibly argue there's no drop off? If it's not fitting into that 10MB, it's coming out of main system RAM. You seem to be arguing both ways-earlier saying the 10MB RAM's bandwidth gives it an advantage but then claiming there's no dropoff in performance once that 10MB is full, which implies that you think it's bandwidth doesn't matter at all.

...This is the main reason 360 almost always has at least double the AA in cross platform games
Click to expand...

I assume the 360 would use AA because it's got that hardware sitting there that can't do anything else. It's hardwired, and doesn't "cost" much to use. So that's an advantage if you care about 2-4x AA. (Personally I don't as I never use AA in PC games, and have never thought it's particularly useful in any HD resolution, but for some reason lots of people love it...)

... & of course the whole framebuffer isnt going to fit into 10MB; it's not supposed to. Honestly, why do you think there's GDDR3 connected to the GPU if they werent going to use it? You think it does everying in 10MB eDRAM & then just spits it out to your TV? unpossible. It uses the eDRAM to do 10MB at a time faster than could be done w/ the GDDR3.
Click to expand...

This is exactly my point. And the smaller the percent that can be done in that 10MB, the less advantage it gives-the higher the drop off in performance. A more typical PS3/PC design doesn't have that. Not saying it's a bad design at all, it just is even less suited to doing progressively higher resolutions.

it also effectively doubles bandwidth because calculations which need to be sent twice (like halo 3's 2 pass HDR) only have to go through the main memory pipeline once instead of twice.
Click to expand...

Which is all fine, but doesn't change that you lose more and more of it's advantages as you have to store more and more of the frame in main RAM.

Regarding texture compression, you just said the 3Dc was supported THROUGH DRIVERS for the 7800 series...which is exactly my point, it's NOT actually supported. They didn't "remove" anything. There's no reason to convert 3Dc to Nvidia's format on a dedicated piece of hardware like the PS3-they're just going to put textures in Nvidia's native format to begin with.

I have no idea if Nvidia's of the time was as good as ATi's or not, but just because they didn't give it a fancy brand name and/or didn't expose it as a new format doesn't mean it wasn't competitive. At any rate I'm just saying they're not sitting there with 10 year old hardware. It works well enough from what I've seen.

[quote\You think devs are going to write their games for 2 different compression methods? no, 3Dc is the best out so that's what they use & thats why it's on nVID cards.[/quote]

Something getting supported doesn't necessarily mean it was the best.

Regarding interlacing-if it was so great, again, we wouldn't have moved away from it. If you have a super perfect deinterlacer it's not as huge of a deal, but in a real-world TV/monitor it's not going to look quite as good as the progressive scan equivalent.

i wasn't making it up when i said that the 360 has the better GPU & the PS3 has the better CPU. It's reality. Accept it.
Click to expand...

Why is that "reality"? How is it overall better? Why can't it actually produce better results if it's better?
 
so if i buy the metal gear bundle i can have the SCAD function... i want it, but don't know if it's worth losing my game saves, buying a new ps3, selling off my old one.... etc.

just cause i wanna hear dark side of the moon on SACD
 
[quote name='DestroVega']so if i buy the metal gear bundle i can have the SCAD function... i want it, but don't know if it's worth losing my game saves, buying a new ps3, selling off my old one.... etc.

just cause i wanna hear dark side of the moon on SACD[/QUOTE]

I'd triple check that the current 80GB (Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle) PS3 supports that, but yeah, that should give you SACD support.

You don't need to lose save games, just transfer them over to the new one.
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']I'd triple check that the current 80GB (Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle) PS3 supports that, but yeah, that should give you SACD support.

You don't need to lose save games, just transfer them over to the new one.[/quote]

i can transfer them with the USB ports?
 
The PS3 supports a bunch of different methods. I think you can plug in an external hard drive, a USB memory device, or a memory card reader, etc.

If you've purchased anything through the Playstation Network/Store thing, you'd want to deactivate your current PS3 before selling it so you can reactivate the new one (and after deactivating, I'd do a full format to help get rid of personal info...although it's probably still recoverable if someone really wanted to, though hopefully Sony stores it encrypted or something).

I'm still unclear as to whether you can deactivate/reactivate systems an unlimited number of times, or if you can only do it 5 times. I keep hearing 5 times from people, but the language on Sony's user agreement implies it's an unlimited number of times (they say they reserve the right to limit it, but say nothing about 5 times...)
The whole thing confuses me, and I wish I knew how their method compares to Microsoft's, as I do want to get the Bionic Command o remake...
 
What program do you guys use to stream media to the PS3? I used WMP11 but I can't get it to recognize anything other than my music. And yes, my videos are in my WMP11 library and they're MPEG4 videos.
 
I use Windows Media Player 11, try going through the library and removing all your content (make sure it's only removing and not deleting from your computer) and then set which folders to monitor and the library will add everything back.

If that doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you. Mine is streaming pictures, video, and music perfectly.
 
Assuming that doesn't work, could it be a flavor of MPEG-4 the PS3 doesn't support? Except...it sounds like the SP3 supports practically everything, but still, maybe some specific encoding it doesn't like?
 
I think I might just hold tight.. wish I had bought the 80 gig though...

going all through the trouble seems silly to hear one album in SACD
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']
And for good reason, given all the issues we've seen lately! That GTA4 crash thing would be spooking me (although maybe it's just a GTA4 thing?). Mine's fine so far...well, one crash in Oblivion.[/quote]

After living through the PS2 era with friends who had multiple DRE's occur on their systems, I had sworn I would buy a PS3 only after it had proven itself to be truly reliable and up until the GTA IV fiasco(and the later 2.40 firmware problems) started it seemed to be much more reliable than the 360.

However, in the back of my mind, I was actually expecting a wave of failures of the launch era consoles by now since Blu-Ray is such a new technology and with new tech there's usually some sort of discernable failure rate. I mean, it's almost expected to have some reported failures or problems, as that's how many bugs and kinks are worked out, right?

But outside of the crashes I've heard about and the hanging on the loading screen on GTA IV for myself, I haven't really heard of anything really bad happening. Although, the 2.40 firmware upgrade seemed to cause more problems than I had heard of prior for the PS3.

I'll always be a worrywart whenever I get a newer console I suppose, but thus far aside from the 2-3 times the loading screen ended up being perpetual on GTA IV I've had a great time with the PS3.
 
[quote name='The Mana Knight']It's because a PS3 development kit is only made to access music from the HDD at the moment (custom music is up to the developer in every PS3 game. Firmware update 1.8 for the developers allowed access to various XMB features within a game (from the HDD), if it's the development kit I'm thinking of). It works on the 360 because the music is being played over the regular music and just cutting out the regular music (software already provided by MS where the developers do not have to do anything). Sony cannot implement it that same way or it would be infringing upon the patent MS has.

If music from a media server was ever going to be used, Sony would have to update the development kits to support such a thing and games would have to be patched to support it. Let's just say reading from the network is a more difficult task than HDD. Also, I cannot guarantee this, but the memory constraints the PS3 has (lack of OS memory in-game, which explains why it took a while for in-game XMB to come) MIGHT affect it (there's several articles about how every firmware update, Sony had to find a way to reduce the OS footprint on the PS3, and bring it down enough to allow features to be accessed in-game, along with giving developers more room to work with my reducing the OS footprint).[/quote]So I'm guessing that streaming over music from my PC while playing a game probably won't be happening?

Also, could someone tell me what the heck SACD is?
 
[quote name='XxFuRy2Xx']So I'm guessing that streaming over music from my PC while playing a game probably won't be happening?

Also, could someone tell me what the heck SACD is?[/quote]

Super Audio CD... It's supposed to "sound better" i guess...
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']2.40 didn't really cause any problems itself, but issues with the download/installation caused those problems.[/quote]

Then why did they pull it if it wasn't messing up systems? That's how I think of it anyway.
 
Because something was going wrong in the installation process and you stop that by taking it down. There were many of us here, including myself, that had it installed with no problems at all.
 
I just wish they would make some way to be able to UNinstall firmware updates, so in case something weird ever DOES happen you won't be left with a possibly bricked PS3.
 
I got my PS3 today and decided to replace the HD with a 160GB one I have lying around. And of course, I stripped one of the screws holding the drive into the caddy. Is there any place to buy a caddy and screws? I only found one on eBay and it'll be at least 32 bucks without the screws.

Anybody got a source? Thanks.
 
It doesn't really need to be screwed in. Just take one to a hardware store and try to match it with another one.
 
The systems weren't bricked, people just needed to reformat hard drives. Only real problem was if you were gamesharing you would not be able to re-download things (normally you can download games to 5 machines, but gamesharing uses all 5 spots).
 
Oh, cool. With a little more coaxing, I got that last screw out and swapped the drive. But it'll be relieving to have a non-stripped one in its place.

Thanks all.
 
Do any of you know if they'll be allowing you to send messages to people on your friend's list from the playstation site? Would be a nice feature.
 
I did the same, and left it in - cuz I didn't want to keep stripping it down.

Anyone ever try those weird bits that you see on tv about removing a screw? =P I can't get mine out.
 
man removing this hardrive is a damn hassle..

i pretty much stripped the main blue screw ubt luckily managed to get it out with plyers...

now im trying to get the 4 screws off the damn caddy
 
[quote name='happy']The systems weren't bricked, people just needed to reformat hard drives. Only real problem was if you were gamesharing you would not be able to re-download things (normally you can download games to 5 machines, but gamesharing uses all 5 spots).[/QUOTE]

But if you can deauthorize your system you can move it to more than that, right? (Except if it was screwed up like that I guess you wouldn't be able to deauthorize it...)
 
[quote name='Wolfpup']But if you can deauthorize your system you can move it to more than that, right? (Except if it was screwed up like that I guess you wouldn't be able to deauthorize it...)[/quote]

In which case you call sony and they can deactive it. We had a gameshare group here with this problem (guy with a dead ps3) and was able to resolve it this way. Sony basically deactivates the whole account and all 5 people re-log in.
 
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